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The following is triggered by an interesting private message I received and because, in the case of Windows 10, I don't know the actual answer.

The editions (for lack of a better term, you can't use versions due to the version number changing with each major update) I am aware of are Education, Enterprise, Pro, Home, and S.

Education and Enterprise are envisioned for use by large organizations with dedicated IT departments where large networks of computers will be managed by IT professionals and allow tight control over when updates will be applied and what updates will be applied. I would presume that an individual would be able to buy a license for either, but because of how they are envisioned as being used it would be cost prohibitive to do so.

Pro and Home automatically update as part of their normal operation and this cannot be stopped via controls that are a built in component of Windows 10 in these editions. Thus, they're subject to update as update cohorts are created for roll out as part of their standard operation.

What little I know of S makes it seem pretty much cloud based except for the core components. The best analog that I can think of is Chrome OS.

However, Windows in all prior iterations has always had specialty editions for specific applications where updating is either not wanted or desired, with the exception of patches to security holes if the application involves a connection to a network that is not completely disconnected from "the outside world of the internet." I'm currently helping to get a local theater's POS terminals updated to Windows 7 POS as it's the latest version that will work with the software that will be used on top of it.

What are the editions of Windows 10 that are available for these niche operations like POS terminals, medical equipment, and the like? They must exist but it's something I virtually never touch (this POS job is the first I've dealt with Windows 7 POS and I've been in the tech support business for decades now) and know nothing about. Someone must and I'd like to know about them and what the differences are from the more mainstream editions of Windows 10.

Thanks. I don't know why I don't always go to wikipedia for a quick look to begin with.

That being said, I am hoping that those actually using or supporting some of the niche editions will join in and describe what the differences are in practice "out in the wild" and what problems those cure and/or trigger in the different environments in which they are used.

Probably the one that would be of least interest to you, but Windows 10 Mobile works nicely and has that docking feature which I thought was a pretty good selling point before Samsung introduced it and bettered it in their new Galaxy S8/S8+ smartphones.

BTW, the fact that you, a long-term professional, could use some clarifications on the different editions of Windows 10 totally confirms my thought that nowadays Windows has a confusing amount of iterations. For example, I know that the one best suited for someone like me is Windows 10 Home 64-bit, so I go to the store to see how much it costs and am being presented with 4 products:

I honestly have no idea what the difference between those 4 is, all I know is that I want a Windows 10 Home 64-bit OS that supports all languages. Granted, on some of those it might be the case that the shop has just labeled them confusingly, but still...

JOQ: When you cover as many computers in as many countries under as many circumstances as Microsoft does, where certain things must be included/excluded in each, etc., you run into the forced creation of a multitude of editions. This is true for other OSes, too, but because they are, by comparison, minor players in the PC market (and, yes, Linux is, too, particularly if you break it down into individual distros), you just don't hear about it. If you want your head to spin start looking into all the commonly available Linux distros and the differences between them.

As to your list, the answers are simple if you intend to use them as they are legally and/or logically intended to be used:

1. Is meant to be installed by the original equipment manufacturer of a given computer, which can be you if you build your own, and is licensed only for that computer and cannot ever be transferred to any other machine. Your machine explodes or burns or drowns and your single use license is gone.

2. Combines 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS, with English language support, on bootable USB media. Retail means that you have purchased either a transferrable single user license or X-number-of-computers-in-the-household license to use the OS, and that license is freely transferrable between machines but you may never have more than 1 (or X) machines running Windows 10 at any moment in time under the terms of the license. If you get a new computer without an OS and you decide to use your single-computer retail Windows 10 license then you must uninstall it from whatever machine is running it before you install it on the new machine.

3. Same as 2 but with multi language support but comes with no media whatsoever. You download the Windows 10 version you need from the Windows 10 Download Page and when you go to install it on the machine that you want it on (and this presumes never had Windows 10 installed on it) you will enter the license key. Given that they say "Online Product Key License" you may actually need to do something online to activate the key itself before using it. I believe NR means non-returnable - you buy it it's yours - no change of mind.

4. Home 64-bit, English language support with license key and DVD media. I honestly have no idea what GGK stands for and a web search isn't making it any clearer. It seems to show up on versions sold outside the United States.

The vast majority of sales these days to home users or "cottage industry" system builders is #3, though a lot of people buy OEM licenses even if they haven't built a system because they are less expensive and Microsoft does not provide the support for OEM versions. OEM versions are meant for original equipment manufacturers that support their own hardware and the OS software during the warranty period and afterward, but you must pay for support after the initial warranty period ends.

I see. What's the point of the OEM version when Retail is exactly 7.3% more expensive or $9.79? Why would it be the most popular option, or are you telling me that those $9.79 actually make a significant enough difference to sway the buyers into going for the OEM edition?

I have not priced Windows 10, retail or OEM, but I can assure you that in earlier versions of Windows the OEM version was significantly less expensive than retail was, at least when I bought it.

I remember being astounded at just how big a price difference there was between Windows 7 Ultimate, 32-bit, retail versus OEM. But I may be conflating the upgrade to Ultimate OEM (which I know I bought) and the full retail OEM. It's been a while.

I know that there exists an IoT version designed for raspberry pi and other similar (usually ARM based but perhaps not only for ARM chips) devices, although ths isn't a full OS by any means as it apparently requires the presence of another PC (running a desktop x86 edition of win 10) to function.